A number of factors including ever-increasing energy costs, environmental concerns and the development of new battery technology has fueled interest in electrically powered automobiles. “Plug-in” type electric vehicles rely solely on a battery powered electric motor to propel the vehicle. “Hybrid” vehicles use a combination of an electric drive motor in combination with a gasoline or diesel fueled engine to achieve higher mileage.
Plug-in and hybrid vehicles typically use a high voltage DC drive powered with large batteries or battery packs. Voltages present in these systems may range from 100 to 1000 or greater. Consequently, the use of such systems can present a danger if the high voltage system is not effectively isolated from the vehicle chassis. The threshold voltage where DC becomes dangerous can be as low as 55 to 60 volts and contact with a high voltage DC source can cause serious injuries. Contact with direct current tends to cause continuous muscular contractions that make the victim hold on to a live conductor, increasing the risk of burns and other injuries. Current leakage from the high voltage system to the chassis (a fault) may result from frayed wires contacting chassis components and component failure. Corrosion and/or infiltration of salt, dirt and other debris may provide a current path. Consequently it is important to identify potentially dangerous faults.
One presently proposed fault detectors utilizes a capacitively coupled signal injected into an isolated ground. However, large amounts of parasitic and inherent capacitance in electrically powered vehicles tend to make such devices too “noisy” for reliable use of a capacitively coupled signal for fault detection. Another proposed approach is the use of a wheatstone bridge. However, a short across the detection nodes of a wheatstone bridge may be undetectable. Thus, there exists a need for a more reliable fault detection system for use with high voltage DC systems such as those used in electric vehicles and other applications.